Urbaser enters UK Market

2010

Side-loader collection City of Barcelona

Urbaser SA, Spain's largest contractor involved in the collection and disposal of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Street Cleansing and Disposal, intends now to diversify its operations into the UK Market through its UK company, Urbaser Ltd. Here in the UK Urbaser Ltd have offices in Evesham and Cheltenham and is headed by Javier Peiro (Director) and Project Manager Mark Pigott. Urbaser is part of the Actividades de Contruccion Y Servicios (ACS) group, a £16billion parent company, which has been instrumental in supporting Urbaser SA through their continuous growth. Part of their recent growth and continued success can be seen through the acquisition of waste companies such as Tecmed and Ecosenda, both of which have enhanced Urbaser’s portfolio and position as provider of MSW collection services in Spain and beyond. Globally Urbaser has operations across the European, African and South American continents. In Europe Urbaser has its strong hold on the Iberian Peninsula; including note worthy contracts on the mainland and in the Canary Islands, in relation to the collection of MSW in the Municipalities of La Laguna, Santa Cruz and Porta de la Cruz on the Island of Tenerife. In addition to these collection contracts Urbaser also holds the operating concession for the operation of the four waste transfer stations spread across the island of Tenerife. These waste transfer stations deal with all MSW produced and collected by the Private Contractors carrying out the collection of MSW on behalf of the Islands Municipalities. This operation is carried out by Urbaser's subsidiary Vertresa, a former subsidiary of Tecmed. The MSW is delivered via roll on roll off vehicles to the Sanitary Landfill Site at Arico. This Sanitary Landfill disposes of all MSW produced on the Island of Tenerife.

In Africa, Urbaser operates several MSW collection contracts in Morocco, in four of the districts of Rabat the country’s capital. Further contracts are also operational in Marrakech, Tanger and Ceuta for the collection of MSW.

Collection operations by Starco in Chile

Meanwhile, in South America and Central America Urbaser also has a large presence with MSW collection contracts in Buenos Aires in Argentina. Operations also extend to Chile with involvement in MSW collection and disposal through its subsidiaries KDM, Starco and Demarco - this is without mentioning operations for the collection and disposal of MSW in Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Porto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

As part of their attempt to be environmentally considerate, Urbaser hopes to implement a World - Wide Waste Management infrastructure in the forms of: Energy from Waste facilities (EFW), Materials Recycling Facilities (MRF), Anaerobic Digestion (AD), and Mechanical Biological Treatment Plants (MBT). Each of these facilities offer clients the very latest in environmental friendly technology, and are in line with the aims and practice of Sustainable Development, the EU Waste Framework Directive and the EU Landfill Directive.

Waste transfer operations in Buzanada Island of Tenerife

Within Urbaser it also operates a bespoke Healthcare waste and disposal service on a global basis. Through Urbaser's worldwide operations and subsidiaries it uses the latest technology in vehicles used for the collection of MSW. These include chassis which are Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), or Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) propelled. It is believed that using these environmentally friendly vehicles it reduces the reliance on using our ever-diminishing supply of natural resources, as well as significantly reducing the impact that their carbon footprint makes across the globe. These types of vehicles are in operation on one of Urbaser's largest MSW collection contracts the district of Avenida de Meridiana - within the city of Barcelona. The contract for this district of the city was recently retained by Urbaser as part of a new nine year contract. The type of vehicles being utilised on this latest contract includes all chassis of a CNG and LNG Specification in the forms of the Mercedes Econic, as well as Iveco and IPV. Due to the Night–time Collection Services being carried out in Barcelona, and most other Spanish towns and cities, it was decided to maximise the use of Hybrid Technology, for the general compaction refuse collection vehicles (RCVS) and for those of Split Fraction for Selective Collection. This equipment has been used for the main benefit of reducing noise levels while carrying out the Night-time collections in addition to benefits associated with reducing CO2 levels and the services carbon footprint.

Night collection in Huelva southern Spain.

As well as these types of Collection Vehicles, Urbaser has also implemented the use of Side loader RCVS of Farid FMO type. This is in conjunction with the collection of both MSW and Selective Collection of MSW. These new Side loader containers have been implemented on the newest collection contract in Barcelona and have been well received. Urbaser has implemented the use of 1800 litre and 3200 litre capacity containers. Some of these have a Split Fraction of 1600 litre where residual MSW and organic waste can be stored for collection. With these containers, Urbaser has incorporated a special system to open the lid. This will benefit both the infirm and disabled people by the use of a special handle at the base of the container to open the lid. Another new system implemented for Barcelona, in conjunction with Side loader collection, is the Easysystem which is manufactured by Nord Eng. (Italy). This equipment utilises a mechanical arm behind the cab of the vehicle and is fitted with a magnet to lift containers, these containers come as both standard for the collection of MSW and also Split Fraction, for the collection of organic waste and recyclables. In the case of the Barcelona contract the vehicle fitted with the Nord Technology has roll-on-roll-off equipment so that the equipment is interchangeable with various container types, e.g. compaction container for the collection of MSW, open top non compaction for organic waste and recyclables.

RCV’s discharging their loads at the waste transfer station in Buzanada-Tenerife

The collection operation begins with the Nord lifting arm making contact with the Side loader containers. The lifting arm has a magnetic attachment to connect with the roof of the Side loader container and to lift and then discharge the MSW into the roll-on-roll-off container. This system is perceived as being highly economical reducing labour costs in terms of the number of vehicles required, as well as personal. Moreover, the system also boasts having green credentials by reducing the CO2 levels produced and in turn reducing the operations carbon footprint.

With regard to Streetscene, Urbaser SA also operates street cleansing contracts worldwide as previously mentioned. For these operations they offer street cleansing through by utilising both precinct and truck mounted road sweepers for these operations. Further still Urbaser also offers grounds maintenance services to both public and private sector companies, through providing contracts for looking after municipal parks, gardens, recreational areas and beach cleaning across Spain. Urbaser’s overall aim in entering the Environmental Services Sector in the UK is to be involved in Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and Private Finance Initiative Contracts (PFI) and from my experience in working alongside them and studying about their operations they are a very professional company. It hopes to offer local authorities, a variety of services which traditionally have been in-house operations, or have been managed by contractors for a long period, and as such now require a new approach to contract management. The company hopes that, if it is successful in entering the UK market it will offer a first rate service which will help improve the environment of many communities in the coming decades through offering innovation and excellence.

Author

Timothy Byrne

(TECH MCIWM) (IWMTECH)